Last year, the National Office of Intellectual Property of Vietnam, under the Ministry of Science and Technology, recognised the brand ownership for the products of Ly Son Island including garlic, onion, seafood, garlic wine, dried seafood and seaweed.

It’s also the first made-in-Ly Son seafood and aquaculture products to have their own brand nationwide.

In 2015, 40 tonnes of Ly Son garlic were exported to Thailand.

The company, in cooperation with the island district and the island’s farmers association, plans to produce organic black garlic for export to Japan, the US and Asian countries, and produce garlic oil.

Ly Son garlic has a distinctive flavour and is in high demand at home and abroad. However, this year only 250ha of garlic and onion were planted due to serious drought on the island.

The island, known as the Kingdom of Garlic in Vietnam, has 21,000 inhabitants, of whom 73 percent makes their living on farming garlic and spring onion or fishing.

A representative from the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) yesterday reported difficulties in implementing a loaning program to develop hi-tech agriculture at a conference in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong.

When Vietnam removed subsidy mechanism and opened the market in 1986, Cholimex Food Company started travelling to many countries to seek partners without result. Not giving up, it has continued efforts and exported products to over 30 countries.

The Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HOSE) said over 1.33 billion shares of Vietnam Prosperity Joint Stock Commercial Bank (VPBank) will officially be listed on the HOSE, code VPB, from August 17 with the reference price of VND 39,000 per share.